College basketball rankings: Once No. 2, Arizona State is now in a nasty free-fall

The Sun Devils started 12-0, but since then are 2-4 after Wednesday's loss to Stanford

Arizona State started 12-0 with double-digit wins over Xavier and Kansas, at which point the Sun Devils were college basketball's biggest surprise. They were ranked as high as No. 2 in the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one). But that seems like a million years ago now. Because ASU lost again late Wednesday -- to a Stanford team that is, yes, playing better. But it's still a Stanford team that's 11-8 with losses to Eastern Washington (No. 170 at KenPom), Portland State (No. 122 at KenPom), Long Beach State (No. 216 at KenPom) and California (No. 221 at KenPom). So this was not a "quality" loss. And when you consider it represented the fourth loss in Arizona State's past six games, and the third time in the past five games that the Sun Devils lost as favorites, it's hard not to conclude things are going the wrong way.

Arizona State never lost as a favorite, and actually won three times as an underdog, in its first 12 outings, crazy as that sounds. So the season has undeniably flipped. Taking all of this into account, and other things as well, the Sun Devils are ranked 23rd in Thursday's updated CBS Sports Top 25 (and one). But the good news is that their next five games are all against sub-75 KenPom opponents. So the schedule is conducive for getting things right, which is ideal.

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Gary Parrish is an award-winning college basketball columnist and television analyst for CBS Sports who also hosts the highest-rated afternoon drive radio show in Memphis, where he lives with his wife...
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